BEIJING (Reuters) - China must separate the conflicting
promotion and prevention roles of its state tobacco monopoly to
reduce smoking-related deaths, which number as many as 1 million
a year, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on
Wednesday.

With more than 300 million smokers, China is the world's
largest producer and consumer of tobacco. The government has
pledged to curb smoking but its efforts have had little success.

The country's State Tobacco Monopoly Administration controls
the world's single largest manufacturer of tobacco products,
China National Tobacco Corporation, but also wields power over
policymaking on tobacco control and enforcement.

Anti-smoking campaigners say this dynamic has long
undermined their efforts to curb the habit.

WHO's director-general, Dr. Margaret Chan, said she had
advised China's tobacco monopoly to separate the government
agency functions from the state tobacco firm, and expected the
Chinese government would take her advice.

"I believe the Chinese government will implement (this
change) step by step, according to their procedure," Chan,
speaking in Cantonese, told a news conference concluding her
official visit to China.

Chan, a bird flu expert and former Hong Kong health
director, said the government had shown "commitment and
understanding" of the conflict of interest stemming from the
dual promotion and control roles of the state tobacco monopoly.

The government's heavy dependence on tobacco taxes also
impedes anti-smoking efforts. Last year the tobacco industry
contributed more than 816 billion yuan ($131.70 billion) to
government coffers, an annual rise of nearly 14 percent.

Chan said about a third of the world's smokers live in
China. The government has run half-hearted campaigns for years
to curb the habit. Many Chinese cities ban smoking in public
places, but no-smoking signs are often ignored.

Although Beijing banned smoking by government officials in
public last year, the habit is viewed as an important element in
socializing and Chinese cigarettes are among the cheapest in the
world, at less than a dollar a pack.

Smoking and other high-risk habits, such as eating too much
junk food high in salt, sugar and trans fats, can lead to
significant increases in non-communicable diseases, including
cancer and diabetes, and risk wiping out the economic gains
China has built up in the past three decades, Chan said.

"If we don't see very strong actions to tackle tobacco and
other preventable health risks, the burden of these diseases
will be simply devastating," she said.

Chan said she met Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, together with
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, on Tuesday to discuss
healthcare reforms, but tobacco control was not mentioned.

Li's younger brother, Li Keming, has served as deputy head
of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration since 2003.